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Stray Souls2023

Stray Souls

2023 Versus Evil51Mediocre

Playtime

ShortTypically 6 hours

Playable on

Available on

Game modes

Details

Launch
October 25, 2023
Developer
Jukai Studio
Publisher
Versus Evil

Overview

Stray Souls - Exclusive Official Trailer | Black Summer 2023

Enter a world of nightmares in this third person, action-horror, inspired by the classics of the genre. Fight terrifying creatures, solve mind-bending puzzles, and unravel a horrid family secret to expose the chilling truth behind your existence. Unlock the secrets hidden within the haunted town of Aspen Falls, featuring gruesome enemy encounters, epic bosses, cunning puzzles, and a deep story where not everyone is who they seem. Play as Daniel – an average teenager whose life is forever changed after inheriting the home of his estranged grandmother and meeting a mysterious woman with intimate knowledge about his family, the house, and its shocking connection to his past. The gameplay elements inspired by classic horror combat with souls-like precision, put a fresh spin on the modern action-horror genre.

Screenshots

Screenshot for Stray Souls
Screenshot for Stray Souls
Screenshot for Stray Souls
Screenshot for Stray Souls
Screenshot for Stray Souls
Screenshot for Stray Souls
Screenshot for Stray Souls
Screenshot for Stray Souls
Screenshot for Stray Souls
Screenshot for Stray Souls

Reception

In the Silent Hill fan community, most of the post Team Silent games are shit on regularly and looked at like bastard children. I personally loved most of the entries, even if they lacked that spark that made the originals so damn satisfying. Initially, this felt like one of the best Western developed games in the series without the name attached, but...

Stray Souls is easily one of the worst horror games ever made. The fascistic interests of its director aside, this is a defective product duct taped into a barely coherent mess of prepurchased assets, algorithmically generated art, and bargain bin genre tropes.

There aren’t many times when this job feels like work, but playing through Stray Souls was one of them. And before you complain with the retort that this is only a $30 game made by a small team, one just has to take a look at something like The Invincible to see how it should be done properly.

Stray Souls is a bad game without any excuses, squandering its interesting premise in minutes. With incomprehensible design choices, a nonsensical script, and buggy gameplay, Jukai Studio's debut is forgettable. A failed horror game on all fronts, unable to create the disturbing atmosphere it aimed for. Maybe next time.

Stray Souls is a project with too many technical flaws to be good enough. Aside the good prologue mission, the game is very far from the quality shown by modern games.